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“Sleep is a really big deal for me,” says comedian Whitney Cummings. “We talk about sleep as if it's only about your sheets and pillows. I did a whole chapter in my book about my sleep routine, dealing with childhood trauma and migraines—I would lose sleep thinking, Am I going to get a headache tomorrow at this job? What if I get a migraine?”
Cummings has had problems sleeping since she was a kid—“I was the weirdo that couldn't fall asleep at sleepovers and then the next day would be sleeping all day covered in like Cheeto dust, Wet n’ Wild and glitter,” she says. It’s no wonder her adult sleep ritual is “an all-day thing.” Addressing childhood trauma and addiction helped her create healthier habits, she says: “I’ve learned to really train my brain with routine."
Getting on the right birth control also helped. “If you don't have your hormones in check, if you have migraines, then you have sleep problems. I finally got on a birth control that works for me,” says Cummings, who is now a spokesperson for Annovera. “I was on a lot of birth controls that made me kind of, like, go numb or made me not into sex. So my gyno suggested Annovera as the best option for my migraines.”
All this is to say, Cummings has a lot of pro tips for creating a relaxing nighttime ritual, which also involves a robust skin-care routine. “I have oils in every room in my house, and in my car, and in my purse and by my toilet, so in the middle of the night, when I get up to pee, I’ll reapply,” she says. “I treat my skin like a piece of leather—I’m never not lubed up. I’m a female comic—I know what’s in store for me. I love Joan Rivers, she’s my hero, but I don’t want to go that route, so I’m trying to figure out the preventative stuff. And sleep is really the number one beauty secret.”
We asked Cummings about how she sleeps on the road, her favorite pajamas, and her many, many moisturizers.
The first step in my pre-bed routine
I do my nighttime routine in stages. So I’ll use a dermal roller, and then I'll go answer some emails, and then I’ll put one serum on, and then I'll go make myself some tea, and then another serum.
The products I’ll apply in the middle of the night
I’m actually starting to get embarrassed by how many I use—I do grapeseed oil and tomato seed oil that I get at Whole Foods. I love Vintner's Daughter and the Rodin oil. My new obsession is from a Black-owned brand called Epara.
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I also use this brand called Glycelene—Hillary Duff sent this to me. It’s amazing. The packaging is gorgeous and it’s all natural and vegan. Oh! And Bomb’d Aesthetics. It’s a Black-owned business; their products are unbelievable. They have these amazing shea butters, and the smells are so cozy, like smoky pine.
The headphones that block out distractions...and help my skin
I sleep in noise-canceling headphones like a corpse [on my back] so that the products actually sink in. Most people spend all this money on products and then they put their face on their pillow and the pillow gets all the treatments.
The pillow I take everywhere
I have this with me at all times. It’s called a Sleepcrown—it's like a heavy pillow that is so nice. It's like a hug for your brain. I also like the Ostrich Pillow.
The pajamas I splurge on
This is going to sound elitist. They’re Karen Mabon—these are like gifts. But also, I’m the bitch who goes on Etsy and gets vintage housecoats and sweatpants.
What’s currently on my nightstand
Headphones, an eye pillow and, like, nine oils. People probably think they’re looking at sex toys, walking into a 50 Shades of Grey sex dungeon. I’m like, “No, it’s not for sex!” But I do put oil on my vagina.
